


Who Needs Beds Anyway?

by Chrystie, kate882



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-06
Updated: 2015-08-06
Packaged: 2018-04-13 06:02:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4510584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chrystie/pseuds/Chrystie, https://archiveofourown.org/users/kate882/pseuds/kate882
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story where Kuroko gains the attention of Kise, and regrets everything because of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Who Needs Beds Anyway?

Kise was rushing towards his next class with a fresh cup of coffee in hand when he bumped into…. he wasn’t really sure what he bumped into actually, but it had still caused him to spill all his coffee onto his white shirt. Great. Just great. “Ahh geez, I liked this shirt too.” He looked down towards what he had bumped into and found a short blue-haired teenager. What the hell was this kid doing on university campus? “What are you doing just standing around here? And why are you on a university campus? Shouldn’t you be at school?” Kise said, very annoyed.

Kuroko was about to apologize for ruining the shirt, although the blond had been the one to run into _him_ , but then Kise opened his mouth again, and all thoughts of apology flew out of his head. “I am at school. I go to school here,” Kuroko said coldly, moving to step around the other and continue on his way to class.

Go to school here? Was he one of those duel enrollment students or something? Kise shrugged. He needed to get to class; he would ask his manager later if coffee stains could be removed. He kept walking towards class, which apparently was in the same direction as the teenager he’d just bumped into. He almost wanted to hit himself when he realized that they were headed towards the same class. Great. They apparently had to spend the next hour in the same room as well. He entered the class and did his best to ignore the teenager’s presence for the entirety of the lecture.

Kuroko didn’t act any different during class. He half-listened to the teacher, as he absentmindedly doodled on his notes. He noticed that Kise glanced at him a few times, which was odd considering he’d never been noticed by the man that he’d immediately recognized from magazines, but didn’t really care that much and just continued his mix of taking notes and drawing and looking around at all the people in class out of boredom. When they were finally dismissed, Kuroko didn’t even spare Kise a glance as he packed up his things to leave. English wasn’t really his favorite subject, he was an art major, but he couldn’t like all of his classes. He could just try to get out as soon as possible.

KIse quickly packed up his things to rush out of class. Today was one of those days on which he had a shoot right after his lectures. He groaned when he realized his dresser would kill him for the coffee stain but he would have to worry about that later.

Kuroko spotted an abandoned notebook out of the corner of his eye as he was leaving, and returned to pick it up, flipping it open to look for a name. ...Apparently the universe really wanted him to speak with Kise.

Kuroko walked out of the classroom and looked around until he spotted a shock of blond hair. “Kise-san!” he called to get his attention.

Kise stopped abruptly at the sound of his name, and looked around for the source of the voice. It was the teenager again. He really didn’t have time for whatever this kid wanted. “Did you need something?” Kise wasn’t very good at hiding his irritation, it seemed.

Kuroko arched an eyebrow at the tone of voice Kise used. “You know what, never mind. I forgot what I was going to tell you. Have a nice day.” Kuroko gave him a false smile, and left with the notebook, heading back to his dorm. He would give it back to him in their next class. For now, Kise could freak out wondering where it was since he hadn’t been particularly nice.

Kise was slightly distracted by the cute smile but quickly shook himself out of it. So the kid was a little cute, that didn’t really make him that special, and he was still just a kid. Kise continued off towards where he was headed. He was sure to be late now.

* * *

 

After the photoshoot, Kise finally managed to have some time to himself. He rummaged through his backpack, planning to go over his notes and do some studying as he usually did after work.

He emptied his stuff onto his desk, piling them on top of each other and realized that his English notebook wasn’t there. _What?! Where the heck did he put it?!_ He could’ve sworn he’d had it earlier! Did he leave it in class? He thought back to earlier that day... and vaguely remembered seeing something that looked exactly like his notebook in the teenager’s hand. _Well, crap._ Maybe he should’ve tried a little harder to hide his irritation towards the kid. Well he didn’t have English tomorrow so he’d have to get it back on the day after. He fell back into his chair with a whine. Today was just not his day.

* * *

Kuroko was leaning against a tree, sketchbook open in his lap, and trying not to doze off. He was supposed to be meeting with Kagami, but Kagami’s lecture was running late and he was bored, and he’d had to stay up working on a paper the night before.

Kise had not been expecting to see the teenager until tomorrow but this worked too. He noticed him by a tree and walked up to him, fully intent on getting his notebook back. Getting closer he realized the kid was asleep. He was actually pretty cute like this with his head slightly tilted, his hair just barely in his eyes, and his lips slightly parted. Kise stopped himself from staring once he caught up with his thoughts. No. This was a teenage kid he was staring at. He _could_ not and _would_ not. The kid wasn’t that great anyway.

He crouched down next to him and gently shook his shoulder to wake him. “Hey,” he called softly. “Wake up.”

Kuroko slowly opened his eyes, half expecting to see Kagami about to reprimand him for falling asleep in the middle of a public area, but closed his eyes again when he saw Kise. He didn’t want to deal with this right now. “Five more minutes,” he mumbled.

He quickly brushed away the thought of kid being really cute again before it could form. He gently shook his shoulder again. “C’mon, I need to ask you something.”

Kuroko reluctantly opened his eyes again. As much as he might want him to, it didn’t seem like Kise was going away anytime soon. Kuroko did his best to look expectantly at Kise while still half-asleep.

Kise looked away from him. Despite trying to look serious, with his sleepy eyes the look just came off as a somewhat adorable pout. “Do you, uh—do you have my notebook?” he said faster than he’d meant to.

“With me? No,” Kuroko replied, yawning and rubbing his eyes before sitting up a bit straighter. “It’s in my dorm at the moment.”

“Can you—uh—go get it?” Kise deemed it probably okay to look at the kid now that he sounded a bit more awake.

Kuroko frowned. “You can’t just wait until class tomorrow?” Kagami kun would probably be meeting him soon if he was late enough for Kuroko to have fallen asleep. The class could only drag on so long.

Ah. Now he remembered why he didn’t like this kid. “Well I was kinda hoping to study some of last class’ material before we got more,” Kise answered, upset.

Kuroko sighed and pulled out his phone, sending a quick message to Kagami to tell him that he had to go deal with an idiot. “Maybe you should have thought of that before carelessly leaving it behind, and acting rather rude to the person bringing it to you," Kuroko told him, but got to his feet, closing his sketchbook, motioning for Kise to follow him, and walking towards his dorm.

“I was in a rush. I had to be somewhere," Kise bit out. He belatedly realized the kid said he was living in a dorm. “Wait why do you live in a dorm? Shouldn’t you still be living with your parents or something?”

Kuroko looked over at Kise with furrowed brows. “Why would I be living with my parents?”

“‘Cause you’re still a kid,” Kise answered like it was the most obvious thing.

Kuroko stopped, and was very tempted to tell Kise that he would not be getting his notebook back because Kuroko would be burning it. “I am twenty years old," Kuroko said slowly to make sure the words sunk in.

 _Twenty?!_ He eyed the guy a bit. “Are you sure? You don’t look twenty.”

Kuroko silently pulled out his wallet from his back pocket and flipped it open to show Kise his ID, giving him a blank stare.

Kise blinked a few times to make sure his eyes weren’t lying to him. So the guy, whose name was apparently Kuroko Tetsuya, was telling the truth. Well at least now he wouldn’t feel as guilty whenever he found the guy attractive, not that he actually really liked him at all. “Okay... I believe you now.”

Kuroko put his wallet back into his pocket and started walking again, a bit faster this time to try and get this interaction over with.

Kise followed Kuroko up the stairs to his dorm and waited outside his room. Getting a small peak inside it, he noticed multiple paintings and sketches, placed around it. So he was apparently an art major or at least he just really liked drawing.

Kuroko returned a moment later with the notebook, holding it out to Kise. “If that’s all, please leave.”

Kise was slightly taken aback by the blunt dismissal of him. This guy knew who he was right? Well he knew his name so he should. “You know, no one’s ever been this rude to me before.”

Kuroko looked genuinely surprised by this. “That certainly does explain your personality. I suggest finding at least a few people who don’t kiss up to you all the time. It builds character," he replied, closing the door in Kise’s face since he hadn’t left when asked. And he didn’t think he’d been that rude. He’d said please after all.

Now that was definitely a first. He walked away from the dorm with a small smile on his face. Kuroko was an interesting person at least.

* * *

Kise had finally managed to convince Kasamatsu to go to his English class and he was practically bouncing with excitement. Kasamatsu never really agreed to hanging out with him easily.

“Calm down, brat. I’m just free for the afternoon. And I’m curious about the guy that slammed a door in _your_ face," Kasamatsu said, using one hand to push Kise away for some personal space, not noticing the blue haired male who eyed them curiously for a moment before looking down at a sketchbook.

“But Kasamatsu-senpai, you never come to any lectures I invite you to!” He tried to keep his hold on Kasamatsu which wasn’t working out too well with him pushing him away.

“And this is why! You won’t let go of me when I do.” Kasamatsu shoved Kise down into his chair before taking the seat next to him. “Stay," he warned, giving Kise a stern glare. “So, which one rejected your ass?” He asked, looking around, still not noticing Kuroko, who he had placed Kise in a seat next to, and who was now resolutely ignoring them.

Kise looked around and screamed a bit when he noticed Kuroko right next to him. After taking a second to calm down, he pointed towards the blue haired man next to him. “It was him.”

Kuroko looked up when a finger was pointed in his face, having to go a bit cross eyed to bring it into focus before turning his attention to the two. “What was me?” He asked with a tilt of his head.

“You were the one who was so rude to me yesterday!” Kise was practically shouting.

“I asked you to please leave. You didn’t. So, I closed my door. There’s nothing rude about that. It was rude of you to overstay your welcome," Kuroko replied calmly while Kasamatsu laughed.

“I could almost be mad since I had to listen to him whine about it, but the look on his face when you came out of no where makes up for it," Kasamatsu said.

“I’ve been here the whole time. You two sat next to me," Kuroko informed him.

“Whatever. Same difference," Kasamatsu said.

“Kasamatsu-senpai!” Kise whined, “Why are you taking his side?!” This was just unfair.

Kasamatsu raised his eyebrows. “You were expecting something else?”

Kuroko had lost interest and returned to sketching the classroom, but with different animals where the people sat. He decided on a bird for Kise, because those were rather loud as well.

Kise gradually quieted down as the lecture started. As he took down notes, he noticed that Kuroko wasn’t really listening to what the professor said. He leaned over a bit to see what he was doing and realized that he had drawn the classroom with animals replacing the people. He scanned the page to find himself and noticed he was a small bird that kind of resembled Tweety from Looney Toons. Kise wasn’t really sure whether to be offended or not and decided he would ask Kuroko about it after class.

* * *

Kasamatsu noticed that Kise’s attention was on the guy from before, and wished him a silent good luck before slipping out while he could. Once someone had Kise’s attention he was pretty hard to shake.

Kise managed to stop Kuroko before he left the class. “Wait Kuroko-kun. I wanted to ask you about that drawing you were doing.”

Kuroko wondered what exactly he had done to warrant the unwanted attention from Kise. He’d given him his notebook back. Kuroko had never had to deal with all of this before. “What about it?”

“Why’d you draw me as a bird? And one that looks like a cartoon.”

“Why were you looking at my drawing?” Kuroko asked, a small frown crossing his face.

Kise didn’t think he’d ever seen Kuroko this visibly upset before, which realistically speaking, didn’t really look like much, but it was still something. “‘Cause I was sitting next to you. And I noticed you weren’t paying attention” he said simply.

Kuroko didn’t look impressed by the explanation. “You were a bird because birds are loud, something I am learning that you are when you like someone. And you were drawn like a cartoon because you sort of reminded me of one today. Also, you have almost the same colored hair as the feathers on the bird in Looney Toons," Kuroko replied before turning and continuing on his walk.

Kise followed after him to try and ask him more about it but lost sight of him once Kuroko entered a crowd. Well he supposed he didn’t really need to keep asking him about it. Kise walked slowly back to his apartment thinking about the small frown that resembled almost a pout that Kuroko had earlier. Yeah, the man was definitely cute.

* * *

Kise was becoming better at spotting Kuroko when he was around. He saw Kuroko sitting by the same tree he was the other day with someone he didn’t recognize. He ran up to him and flung his arm around his shoulders. “Kuroko-kun!”

Kuroko tensed a bit when he felt an arm wrap around him, and a, now familiar, voice shout his name. He could feel the regret over taking the notebook in the first place washing over him again.

Aomine looked at the new, uninvited, guest with a bit of curiosity. “Hey Tetsu, you get a boyfriend or something?”

Kuroko felt his face heating up at the question and he shook his head. “No. This is Kise-kun. He’s a pest who won’t leave me alone," Kuroko said.

Kise pouted, “Kuroko-kun that’s so mean!” He turned to Kuroko with his pout, a little over accentuated for dramaticism.

Aomine laughed at Kise’s attempt at guilting Kuroko. “Dude that’s not gonna work. Tetsu’s like a master at that. You’re not going to get him to crack.”

Kise let his pout fall, looking over to the dark skinned man with intrigue. “Really? I kinda wanna see that.”  

“You have nothing I want. There’s no need for it," Kuroko said simply, trying to scoot closer to Aomine to put some space between himself and Kise, which only worked so much with Kise’s arm around him.

Aomine stared at the blond guy very intently. He knew this guy from somewhere, he knew he did. Realization hit him and he whipped his head back to Kuroko. “Tetsu, why do you have a model hanging off of you?!”

“Because I clearly did something to anger the gods," Kuroko replied, finally slipping out from under Kise’s arm, and managing to move over a bit.

Kise frowned at both Kuroko’s words and the loss of Kuroko from under his arm. “That’s a bit harsh, don’t you think?” Kise asked, trying his pout on Kuroko once more. Kuroko looked just as unmoved as before.

“I think I’m going to go get some food. I’ll see you later, Aomine-kun. Have a nice evening," Kuroko got to his feet and walked off.

Kise may or may not have checked out his ass. Judging by the protective look he was getting from Kuroko’s friend, the answer would be not if asked. “How did you get him to talk to you without being mean?” Kise asked Aomine.

“I’m his friend," Aomine said simply.

“Yeah, but how did you do _that?”_ Kise asked with a tilt of his head.

“I dunno. He didn’t start off hating me was probably how," Aomine laughed.

“But I didn’t like him at first either! So can’t we mutually agree to not hate each other now? Do you think he’d go for that?”

“Probably not,” Aomine simply responded. “Tetsu either likes you or he doesn’t. He doesn’t seem to like you, so you’re shit out of luck, buddy.”

Kise rolled his eyes. This wasn’t helpful. “Thanks for the help," he muttered sarcastically, getting back to his feet to continue the way he had been walking before he’d spotted Kuroko.

“Anytime, Blondie,” Aomine waved off before lying down on the grass.

* * *

Kise spotted Kuroko drawing something in his sketchbook at a bench and slowly snuck up behind him. Kuroko always seemed to be able to scare him at odd times; so he figured maybe some revenge was in order. Once he was directly behind him, he pounced, wrapping his arms around Kuroko’s shoulders and shouting ‘Boo!“

Kuroko simply shifted slightly so that he could continue to move his hand freely to work on his drawing of a castle. He certainly wasn’t going to let Kise be the reason he messed up on it. “Hello, Kise-kun," Kuroko said calmly.

“Kurokocchi!” Kise whined, “You could at least pretend to be shocked or something!” He tightened his hold on Kuroko and rested his chin on Kuroko’s head.

“I don’t feel particularly inclined to lie to you," Kuroko said, tilting his head back to look up at Kise, which put their faces uncomfortably close because of where Kise had been resting his chin. “Kurokocchi?” He added curiously.

Kise would admit that he got a little lost in Kuroko eyes which was why his answer came out a little distracted, “Yeah… I add ‘cchi’ to the end of names of people I respect.”

“And what exactly did I do to earn that title?” Kuroko asked, brows furrowing in confusion. As far as he was aware he wasn’t acting any different around Kise, except that he asked him to go away less because he knew that nine out of ten times it wouldn’t work.

“You’re honest. I like that. Not a lot of people around me bother to be honest anymore.” Kise watched the small changes in Kuroko’s face as he spoke. Being this close let him notice more things about Kuroko that he’d never really picked up.

Kuroko contemplated that for a moment. “I assume that’s part of being famous. But it might also have to do with the attitude you give people when you aren’t putting up the sunshine and rainbows act,” He finally said.

Kise furrowed his brow. “Act?” As far as he could tell he hadn’t really put up an act around anyone. He unconsciously leaned forward a bit until their noses were touching.

Kuroko blushed at the closeness, and moved away. His neck was hurting from the position anyway. He sat up properly, and turned around on the bench to face Kise. “Yes, Kise-kun. Act. Performance. The thing that you do in front of fans where you practically emit sparkles and sunshine, and then you turn rude with a superior attitude in front of people that you don’t actively like, and you’re somewhere in between for the people that you do like. You aren’t _quite_ as over the top, although you’re certainly more comfortable with touching, and the attitude still shows up, but it’s a bit more balanced. Not just one extreme or the other," Kuroko replied, closing his sketchbook, and placing it in his lap.

Ah. Now he understood. “Well I’m required to keep up an image around fans. That’s something out of my control and I am actually very grateful towards my fans. I don’t see a need to act nice towards people I don’t like and prefer to keep people who could possibly use me at a distance. Of course I act differently towards people I prefer to spend time with compared to those that I don’t trust.”

“But you don’t make friends very well if you don’t trust anyone," Kuroko replied. “After all, not very long ago, I was one of those people you didn’t like. Now you’re calling me Kurokocchi and talking to me about how your job affects the way you act around people.”

Kise smiled a bit, “Like I said. You’re honest. You have been ever since we met. You saw how awful I can be and how nice I can be and have never treated me differently. Why do you think I like Kasamatsu-senpai so much? It’s the same reason I like being around you.”

“It seems to me that you just like to be around people who you complain are mean to you," Kuroko told him flatly. “I believe the word for that is masochism.”  

Kise tried to act offended at the notion but ended up laughing instead. “I wouldn’t call it masochism. Maybe more like having a type.”

“I would call it masochism," Kuroko replied, turning back in his seat and opening his sketchbook again. “I like you more like this, by the way. You’re smarter than you let on. You can actually be decent conversation sometimes.”

Again, Kise laughed, “I’m not as much of a ditzy blond as I seem.”

“I know," Kuroko said simply, not looking up from the shading he was doing.

“What about you?” Kise countered, sitting down next to Kuroko and looking up at the sky. “You act all straight faced and cold but you have soft spot for those that warm up to you, even if you think you’re not showing it.”

Kuroko continued to shade as he thought about his answer. “Oh? And how exactly am I showing it?” He asked, curious as to what Kise had picked up on about him.  

“The other day, when you were with your friend. You’re a lot more expressive around people you like than you think. You’re starting to be that way around me too,” Kise smiled.

That last part surprised Kuroko a bit. He knew that he was starting to like Kise, as much as he hated to admit it to even himself, but he wasn’t aware that he was hiding it so poorly. “Then I suppose you must be doing something right.”

“I guess so,” Kise giggled and wrapped an arm around Kuroko’s shoulders.

“I’m trying to work on this," Kuroko complained, although he was starting to resign himself to the fact that he wasn’t going to get much work done around Kise. It was pretty much done anyway.

“You were able to continue working on it when I had both arms around you. I think you can still draw if I just have one.”

Kuroko recalled Kise mentioning that he wanted to see how good Kuroko was at using a pout to get his way, and decided that this was as good a time as any to show him so that he could get some work done in peace. Kuroko let his mouth form a slight pout and he looked up at Kise, batting his eyelashes a few times. “Ryouta, please let me do my work in peace," he asked, looking up at Kise through his lashes.

Kise stared back at Kuroko, mesmerized. “I—uh—I mean—okay,” he stumbled over his words. He let go of Kuroko. “D-did you want something to drink?”  

Kuroko offered him a blinding smile. “That would be wonderful. Thank you, Ryouta.”

Kise staggered a bit while trying to get up, not being able to stop looking at Kuroko’s smile. He mechanically turned around and started walking towards the closest vending machine. Half way there he snapped out of his daze to realize what had just happened. He now understood what Kuroko’s friend had meant when he said Kuroko was a pro at getting what he wanted. He quickly bought two bottles of Pocari and raced back to where Kuroko was sitting. “Kurokocchi! What did you just do to me?!”

Kuroko looked up impassively, having just finished his drawing as Kise arrived. “What do you mean, Kise-kun?” He asked with only a slight tilt of his head.

Kise could not look at Kuroko right now. Not if he wanted to actually be able to talk normally. “That was totally cheating, Kurokocchi!”

“I simply asked you to let me finish my drawing and accepted your offer for a drink. But please, do tell me what it was that I was cheating at. I’d like to  be aware of both the game and the rules," Kuroko replied. He held up his sketchbook to show Kise the drawing. “What do you think? Is it missing anything? I feel like it’s missing something.”

Kise pouted a bit, “Kurokocchi. You’re being unfair.” He sighed and resigned himself to the fact that it would take some time for him to be able to withstand the magic of Kuroko’s face. “It looks great Kurokocchi. I don’t think you need to add anything.” He plopped himself back down onto the bench a little exasperated.

Kuroko’s brows knit together as he looked down at it. No. It was missing something. He was sure that it was.

Kise looked at Kuroko’s troubled expression and examined the picture a little bit more. “Maybe you should try including some people to it.”

Kuroko considered the idea, and then looked at Kise consideringly as well. He finally shrugged and took Kise’s chin between his his index finger and thumb to angle his face better for Kuroko to study for a moment before looking back down at the paper.

Kise let out a surprised squeak when he felt soft fingers on his chin. “Kurokocchi?” he asked, confused.

“Stay still for a few minutes," he said, starting to sketch a face into one of the windows of the castle. He glanced back and forth between Kise and the face he was drawing and soon enough he had a sketch of Kise looking out a castle window with a crown on his head. He looked at it critically, looked at Kise for another long moment, and then nodded to himself.

Kise supposed he should feel flattered that Kuroko decided to add him to the picture but he was still a little taken aback by Kuroko’s sudden actions. He looked at the picture and decided that it did look nicer with a person drawn in. Kuroko had drawn his likeness really well. He was almost tempted to ask if he could keep it but decided against it. Maybe he’d get him to draw him something else one day.

Kuroko looked to Kise for approval of the drawing. He supposed Kise’s opinion mattered a bit more now that Kise was part of it.

Kise noticed Kuroko’s gaze and smiled warmly, “It’s really nice. You were right Kurokocchi, it did need something. It look’s more complete with people in it.”

Kuroko gave him a tiny smile. “Thank you, Kise-kun.”

Kise was once again, mesmerized by Kuroko’s face. He only managed to nod in response.He decided he liked this smile the most out of the ones he’d been shown.

* * *

“Kagami-kun, have you seen my sketchbook?” Kuroko asked, walking out of their dorm room and into the shared kitchen, still in his pajama pants, hair sticking up everywhere, and voice still heavy from sleep.

Kagami gave a half hearted glance around and noticed it by his feet at the end of the couch. He picked it up and glanced the page it was on. “Is this that model you’ve been talking about?” There were several sketches of his face covering the page with multiple different expressions.

Kuroko would deny it if questioned, but he was definitely blushing as he snatched the sketchbook back, suddenly feeling more awake. After drawing Kise in his castle picture, he’d wanted to draw him again, and now he had several small drawings of him filling a page. _“No. It is not him,"_ Kuroko muttered, looking down at the floor.

Kagami noticed the blush on Kuroko’s face and snickered a bit. “You sure? ‘Cause I think I’ve seen that guy on a few magazine covers.”

It was too early for this. Kuroko hadn’t even had any caffeine yet. How was he supposed to keep to himself when he just wanted to keep to his bed? “I am sure," Kuroko replied, moving to get a mug of coffee.

Kagami shot up and moved himself between the coffee machine and Kuroko. Kuroko was always a little more willing to share when he was tired. “Sure it’s not,” he teased. “So you dating this guy yet?”

“I’m not dating anyone.” Kuroko frowned and tried to move around Kagami. It wasn’t fair to hold him hostage to this conversation by blocking the coffee.

Kagami shifted to make it harder for Kuroko to get to the coffee as he continued to question him. “Really? Seems like you really like him.”

“He doesn’t like me like that, so it doesn’t really matter." Kuroko shot Kagami a pleading look.

Kagami laughed and ruffled Kuroko’s hair in response to the look. “But you’re not denying that you like him,” he stated simply.

“I don’t like _you_ anymore," Kuroko mumbled, staring longingly at the coffee maker.

“I can live with that,” Kagami shrugged, “You planning to tell him at some point?”

“Of course not. I just told you he doesn’t like me romantically. He was only ever interested in me from the start because I didn’t like him.” Kuroko wondered what his chances of getting the coffee were if he tried to very quickly dive past Kagami.

Kagami noticed the look in Kuroko’s eyes and moved the coffee maker to be directly behind him. Kuroko looked at him with utter betrayal. Kagami only laughed in response to Kuroko’s expression. “I dunno, I think he’d probably be ecstatic if you told him from what I’ve heard about him.”

“Kise-kun would be ecstatic if I _hugged_ him. He’s not that hard to make happy," Kuroko replied, getting in Kagami’s personal space to try and reach around him.

Kagami lightly batted Kuroko’s hands away, “Then all the more reason to tell him.”

“He would be ecstatic if Kasamatsu-senpai hugged him too. That’s not a reason.” Kuroko was practically pressed against Kagami now to try and reach the coffee.

Aomine yawned as he walked out of his room to see Kuroko awkwardly trying to reach behind Kagami for something. It was way too early for this. He turned around to go back to bed hopefully before anyone noticed him.

“Aomine-kun! Help me! Kagami-kun is making me talk about feelings and won’t give me coffee!” Kuroko called to his friend, noticing him trying to escape.

Dammit. So much for escaping. He turned back and whacked Kagami upside the head. “Why are you torturing people? Give the guy his coffee.”

“Ow!” Kagami muttered, rubbing the back of his head. “No way; he likes Kise. There’s no way I’m letting him have coffee. He’ll never talk about it again if I give it to him," Kagami replied, ignoring the clear look of discomfort on Kuroko’s face since he was now sandwiched between the two taller men. It was a fifty/fifty chance that Aomine would help Kuroko, because he liked Kuroko more, or him because he knew Aomine would be interested in this information as well.

Aomine looked down at Kuroko with a look of interest. Well he was awake now. “You and Kise, huh?”

Kuroko groaned and hid his face against Kagami’s chest. “Why? You’re supposed to help me, Aomine-kun," Kuroko said sorrowfully.

Aomine shrugged, “I’ll help after you spill.”

“I don’t want to be friends with either of you any more. Coffee is my only friend in the world," Kuroko declared.

“He says he thinks that Kise actually doesn’t like him back," Kagami told Aomine.

“Really?” Aomine hadn’t expected that. And he thought Kuroko was better at reading people. “It’d be weirder if he didn’t like you back.”

Kuroko lifted his head from Kagami’s chest to glare over his shoulder at Aomine. “He’s just as clingy with Kasamatsu-senpai as he is with me. He’s even said that he likes being around the two of us for the same reason. Aomine-kun, please get me coffee.” Kuroko turned to face Aomine with his best, most desperate, pout.

Aomine looked away from Kuroko, knowing he wouldn’t be able to resist his pout if he looked. “I think you should still tell him. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“I think I should tell Momoi-san about the summer of 2011. _What’s the worst that could happen?_ ” Kuroko replied.

Aomine couldn’t describe his feelings of betrayal. “Tetsu, that’s just cold!”

Kagami looked between the two of them. “What happened in 2011?” He asked. He’d only met the two when they started college.

“Oh, well you see, Aomine-kun—”

Aomine slapped a hand over Kuroko’s mouth. “Nothing! Nothing happened! You don’t need to know!”

Kuroko looked up at Aomine smugly.

“Oh, screw you, Tetsu!“ Aomine moved to quickly grab the coffee pot from behind Kagami and handed it to Kuroko. “Don’t come complaining to me when you get heart cramps from holding this shit in.”

Kuroko poured coffee into a mug and took a long sip before replying, batting his eyelashes innocently at Aomine. “Is Aomine-kun saying he won’t be there for me if I get hurt? After all we’ve been through. I was there for 2011.”

Aomine screamed and did what he was originally planning to do. He went back to his room, slamming the door behind him, and went back to bed.

“Wait, seriously, I wanna know what happened," Kagami protested.

“Trade secret. Only Aomine-kun, myself, and one cop from the United States know what happened. Sorry," Kuroko said, taking another long sip of his coffee.

Kagami was really curious, but with Kuroko finally caffeinated and Aomine… well being Aomine, he didn’t think he’d get an answer. He plopped himself back on the couch, and gave Kuroko a serious look. “You really should tell him though. It’s not good to keep that stuff bottled up.”

“I’ll take that into consideration.” Which, in Kuroko speak, meant that he was going to be shoving those feelings as far down as he could.

* * *

Kise was rambling, he knew, but he just couldn’t stop. He continued to list endless things he’d noticed recently about Kuroko and what he liked about Kuroko and that cute sparkle that showed up in Kuroko’s eyes whenever he found inspiration for something. He knew Kasamatsu was really only half listening at this point.

“Why don’t you just tell all of this to _Kuroko?”_ Kasamatsu interrupted when Kise started comparing fake smiles to that one real smile he had gotten, because for the love of God he would love for Kise to be telling anyone but him about it.

Kise frowned, “I really don’t think he’d be happy if he found out that I felt anything beyond friendship.”

“He wasn’t happy to find out you felt friendship for him. What’s the difference?”

“If he finds out that I like him more than a friend then he might avoid me even more than before!” Kise waved his arms around to accentuate his point, “He actually likes me as a friend now! I don’t want to push him away!”

Kasamatsu sighed. Why did he have to deal with this? “What do you think Kuroko would tell you to do if you were telling him all of this, but didn’t tell him that it was about him?” Kasamatsu asked.

Kise looked down at his hands and fell silent. He knew the answer to that. That didn’t make him any more confident with the prospect of telling him.

“Well? What would he tell you to do?” Kasamatsu asked again, because damn it he was getting an answer so that he could push this problem onto Kuroko.

“Kasamatsu-senpai, you know that’s different," Kise said quietly.

“No. I don’t know it’s different. Tell me what the kid would say," he ordered.

Kise sighed and resigned himself to defeat. “He would tell me to do what you’re telling me now.”

“He’d tell you to tell the person? Well, if he had a problem with someone telling him to his face, he wouldn’t push that fate upon other people. You said he wouldn’t be happy with you doing that, but it’s exactly what you think he’d tell you to do," Kasamatsu told him.

Kise dropped his face into his arms. He knew Kasamatsu had a point, but still, he really didn’t want to risk it. “I’ll think about it, senpai.”

“Think about it around him," Kasamatsu muttered. “I’ve got class," he added, getting up. He ruffled Kise’s hair as he passed by him. “Try not to make too much of a scene when you tell him though," he called over his shoulder.

Kise looked up a bit from his arms and hummed a bit in response. He’d maybe tell Kuroko eventually. Just not too soon he hoped.

* * *

After his conversation with Aomine and Kagami Kuroko was practically radiating displeasure when he got to his english class, despite keeping his face completely blank. His hair was even still sticking up in some places because he’d been in such a rush to get out of his dorm that morning.

Kise walked into English and almost visibly flinched when he walked up to Kuroko. Why was he in such a bad mood? Granted he, himself, didn’t feel too great after his talk with Kasamatsu either, but Kuroko looked like he could probably kill with just his aura. “H-hey, Kurokocchi,” he hesitantly greeted, “Rough morning?”

“Kise-kun, would you be willing to help me with something?” Kuroko asked instead of answering the question.

“W-with what?” Kise was hoping it didn’t have anything to do with murder, which right now, he wouldn’t be too surprised if it did.

“I would like for Kagami-kun and Aomine-kun to have to search the entire campus for parts of their beds tonight. I need someone to help me take them apart and then scatter the parts," Kuroko replied, voice icy calm.

“Uh… Did they do something to upset you this morning?” At least it wasn’t homicide.

“I don’t want to talk about it," Kuroko said with finality. He’d had more than enough talk of feelings for one morning. “Will you help me or not?”

This time Kise did visibly flinch. He quickly nodded his head out of fear, “O-okay. Whatever you need.” He didn’t really want to know what would’ve happened if he said no.

Kuroko nodded. “Meet me at my dorm at five," Kuroko told him.

Five. He could mentally prepare himself by five. He hoped. It was almost a date! He would just have to look at it that way. “Yes, Kurokocchi.”

* * *

Kuroko had tools for disassembling beds out and ready when he heard a knock on the door. Kagami and Aomine both had their criminal justice class right now, so they would be out for a while which gave Kuroko and Kise a lot of time to work.

Kise was a little hesitant to knock on the door. Apparently he wasn’t able to mentally ready himself by five. He took a deep breath and knocked a few times, hoping Kuroko was no longer as mad as he was earlier.

Kuroko had calmed down a bit since that morning, but he still wanted revenge. So, he wasn’t radiating homicide when he opened the door. “Kise-kun, come in. Which bed would you like to be in charge of taking apart?”

Kise calmed down a bit at noticing that Kuroko was no longer as mad as earlier. “Any I guess?”

“You’re in charge of Kagami-kun’s then.” Kuroko planned to shred all the porn he could find in Aomine’s room. Kuroko pointed towards Kagami’s room and went to Aomine’s bed to start the disassembly process.

Kise walked into the room that Kuroko pointed to and noticed a few tools laid out on the floor for him to use. Well he might as well get it over with.

* * *

After turning the bed into a pile of unscrewed metal, Kise helped Kuroko scatter the pieces all around campus and placed the mattresses on the roof of the dorm buildings. He had to admit, it was a little fun, if not tiring. He walked back with Kuroko to his room and sat down, leaning back  against Kuroko’s bed. The only bed still in the dorm room. He turned towards Kuroko, who was sat next to him and gave him a sleepy smile. “That was kinda fun.”

Kuroko nodded in agreement, aiming his own sleepy smile back at Kise before resting his head on Kise’s shoulder. “I’m tired though," he murmured.

“Yeah,” Kise agreed, “Me too.” He leaned his head down to rest on top of Kuroko’s.

“You can stay here for the night if you want," Kuroko said around a yawn, closing his eyes.

“That’d be nice,” Kise mumbled, drifting off to sleep. He didn’t really think he could get home when he was this tired anyway.

* * *

“What... the fuck?” Kagami asked, looking at the space his bed had been. He walked out of his room and looked in Kuroko’s, finding him passed out with Kise. Kuroko’s bed was still there. When he went to look at Aomine’s room he saw no bed. Well, he could guess what had happened.

Aomine stared dumbstruck at the sight of the empty spot his bed used to be. He fell to his knees when he noticed a small pile of shredded paper near his closet. He crawled to it, picking up the bits and letting them fall through his fingers. No. No! Not his Mai-chan! “Tetsu!” He screamed getting up in a fit of sorrow and rage.

Kagami quickly rushed forward to restrain Aomine. “Shhhhh. He’s sleeping with Kise," Kagami said.

Aomine struggled to get out of Kagami’s hold, “Don’t you fucking shush me! I don’t care who he’s sleeping with! Look at what he did to my Mai-chan!”

“And what are you planning on doing? He can’t magic your porn back together," Kagami reasoned.

“I can take revenge on him! What did my Mai-chan ever do to him?!” Aomine, at this point, had stopped trying as hard and was just screaming.

“Would you shut up. You can get your vengeance later. For now, help me find our beds. Knowing Kuroko, they could be anywhere," Kagami tried to bargain.

Aomine slumped in Kagami’s hold, “Fine. But if we don’t find one, you’re sleeping on the couch.”

Kagami hesitantly let go of Aomine. “Deal.”

* * *

Kuroko woke up the next morning and slowly untangled himself from Kise. At some point they had ended up laying on the floor wrapped up in each others arms. He then made his way to the kitchen and looked around confused when he didn’t see the coffee maker. It was no where to be seen. Kuroko’s still half asleep brain decided that there was no point in being awake if there was no coffee, and he couldn’t think far enough to think about going to bed, so he just curled up into a ball on the kitchen floor. He’d been asleep on a floor before hand anyway.

Kise woke up once he noticed that the warmth beside him had disappeared. He stood up from the floor, his back a little sore, and went to look for the missing Kuroko. He had a slight panic when he noticed Kuroko on the floor of the kitchen, passed out. He rushed over to him and shook him gently trying to wake him up. “Kurokocchi, are you alright?! What happened?!”

Kuroko curled into a tighter ball, hoping that Kise would go away. He just wanted to sleep, and there was no coffee.

Kise placed Kuroko’s head on his lap hoping he wouldn’t hurt his neck too much. “Kurokocchi! Please be alright!”

Kuroko would have to reconsider this crush on Kise. Kise appeared to be a morning person. “I don’t want to be awake. My coffee maker was stolen from me by my former friends," Kuroko complained.

Kise calmed down a bit once Kuroko spoke. At least he wasn’t injured or sick or something. “Kurokocchi, if you wanted to sleep more, you should’ve gone back to your room." Kise absentmindedly threaded his fingers through Kuroko’s hair, stroking through it.

“That sounds like a decision made by someone who is a morning person," Kuroko replied. “And I don’t want to sleep more. I want coffee. But if I can’t have that, I will sleep.”

Kise laughed a bit at Kuroko’s uncharacteristic childishness. It was kind of cute. “If you want coffee, I can go buy some for you,” Kise offered.

Kuroko opened his eye to look up at Kise. Maybe having a morning person around could be useful after all. “You are a wonderful human being, Kise-kun," Kuroko informed him.

“Did you want to come with me to get it?” Kise chuckled, “Or did you want to keep sleeping on the kitchen floor while I’m gone?”

“I’m going to sleep," Kuroko decided, closing his eyes again.

Kise sighed slightly but his smile didn’t fade. He picked Kuroko up and carried him back to his bed, tucking him in before leaving to get him his coffee. It occurred to him that he had no idea how Kuroko liked his coffee. Oh well, he could just bring him some cream and sugar packets.

* * *

Kise came back with Kuroko’s coffee a few minutes later to find Kuroko somehow having turned a full 180 in his bed and kicked the blanket to the floor. Kise approached him, intending to wake him up when he accidentally stepped on something. The curtains were still closed making the room  too dark for him to see what it was exactly. Bending down, he picked up what was apparently Kuroko’s sketchbook. He wasn’t sure how he had missed it earlier and last night. He took a closer look at it and saw multiple doodles and sketches of…. himself? Kuroko had been drawing him?

Kise almost dropped the coffee from pure excitement. He carefully placed the coffee on the table next to Kuroko’s bed. He considered pouncing onto the bed and Kuroko but didn’t think Kuroko would appreciate that much so instead he settled for climbing in with him and hugging him close to him.

Kuroko’s brows furrowed as he felt something grab him and he squirmed a bit to try and turn to face whatever it was, slowly blinking his eyes open. “Kise-kun?” He asked, sounding confused.

Kise just burrowed his face more into Kuroko’s hair, nuzzling him a bit. “Kurokocchi~”

Kuroko frowned a bit. “Weren’t you getting coffee? Or was that a dream?”

Kise ignored Kuroko’s question, springing up to look down at him. “Kurokocchi, can I kiss you?”

“I—what?” Maybe Kuroko was still dreaming. He was still asleep waiting for Kise to bring him coffee.

“Can I please kiss you?” Kise repeated his question, his expression serious and determined.

Kuroko was still pretty sure he was dreaming, after all this was a bit out of no where, but nodded anyway.

Kise brightened at Kuroko’s answer. He leaned down and captured Kuroko’s lips for long kiss, hugging him tightly against him again.

Kuroko decided it wasn’t a dream. Kise felt very real. Which was actually more confusing, because Kise was supposed to be getting coffee. Why was he kissing him? Kuroko decided to wait to question it though, kissing back instead and wrapping his arms around Kise’s shoulders.

Kise parted for some air after bit, leaning his forehead against Kuroko’s to look at him, still smiling brightly as he did so.

So, kissing Kise was helpful for waking up. Not as effective as coffee, but he didn’t feel the need to curl up and go back to sleep anymore. “What brought that on?” He asked curiously.

“Kurokocchi, do you like me?” Kise asked, ignoring Kuroko’s question.

It was too early for this, and Kuroko could feel himself blushing as he looked down at the bed. “I don’t make a habit of kissing people I don’t like.”

Kise lowered himself down to kiss Kuroko again, parting their lips only to pepper small kisses over Kuroko’s face. “Me too,” Kise said between kisses, “I like you too.”

“But  . . . what brought this up? I was sleeping. You were getting coffee. I don’t understand the correlation between either of those things and talking about feelings.”

Kise giggled, stopping his small barrage of kisses. “I did get you coffee. It’s over there on the table.” Kise tilted his head in the direction it was in.

Kuroko immediately looked towards the coffee, and tried in vain to reach for it despite Kise’s arms around him.

Kise wasn’t sure he wanted to let go of him just yet. He held Kuroko tighter to him, laughing slightly at his struggle to get to it. “I saw your sketchbook when I came in.”

Kise was cruel. That was what Kuroko decided when he wouldn’t let him get to the coffee. He frowned a bit as he tried to figure out what his sketchbook had to do with anything, and then understanding dawned on him. “You saw the pictures of you," he said, more to himself than to Kise.

Kise nodded, “I did.” He pressed a small kiss to Kuroko’s cheek, nuzzling it a bit, “I like the way you draw me.”

“You shouldn’t. Those are just little sketches that I didn’t put much effort into. I haven’t had time to properly draw you.” Kuroko gave up his struggle to reach the coffee, slumping against Kise in defeat.

“But they’re still nice,” Kise murmured. He decided that Kuroko had suffered enough. He got off of Kuroko, allowing him to get his coffee.

Kuroko eyed Kise suspiciously, half expecting him to grab him again, before taking the coffee and drinking about half of it in one go, because by God he had been awake for far too long without caffeine.

Kise gently hugged him around the waist from behind, letting him still enjoy his coffee, and pressed a kiss to his shoulder. “Kurokocchi, do wanna go on a date tomorrow?”

“I have a test tomorrow. Maybe this weekend?” He replied before taking another long sip from his coffee.

“That’d be nice too.” Kise let go of him to spin him around, making him face him. “Now then, how about we get out of here before your roommates wake up?”

Kuroko kind of wanted to be there when they woke up to demand answers about why he’d had to resort to sending Kise to Starbucks for him, but decided to indulge Kise this time. “Alright.” He pried Kise’s arms off of him and got to his feet going to his closet for a new pair of clothes, smoothing down his hair as he went. He finished his coffee before he started changing.

Kise tried not to stare as Kuroko changed in front of him, but he would be lying if he said he didn’t peek at least a little. Once Kuroko was done, they snuck out of the dorm as quietly as they could, something Kuroko did with much more ease than Kise. Gently shutting the door, Kise looked to Kuroko with a mischievous grin, “So, would you like to see my apartment?”

“Kise-kun is a pervert," Kuroko informed him flatly, walking in the direction of the dining hall.

Well, Kise should’ve expected that answer, that didn’t mean he couldn’t whine about it though. He chased after Kuroko with a loud whine and a “That’s not true, Kurokocchi!~”

“Yes it is.” Kuroko didn’t even look at him.


End file.
